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Somerset Maugham's On a Chinese Screen: Missionaries, Taipans, and Expats Who Never Leave (but probably should)
In this Barbarians at the Gate x China Books Review crossover, Jeremiah Jenne is joined by CBR Associate Editor Alexander Boyd to discuss the latest addition to the China Archives: W. Somerset Maugham's On a Chinese Screen (1922), a collection of vignettes from Maugham's trip through China in the winter of 1919–1920.
Maugham came to China and mostly found... the English. Missionaries who profess love for a country they secretly loathe, taipans dreading burial in Chinese soil, diplomats who could be posted to Peking or Bern without noticing the difference. Jeremiah and Alexander match these…
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